Bookshelf Therapy

I have a thorough tidy up of our bookshelf every few months and sort through all the books that are in the wrong place and all of the random junk that accumulates on the shelves.  We are planning a party for the weekend, so that was a good excuse as any to tackle the latest mess.

I recently came across this picture and was intrigued.  I love order and neatness, I am very visual so I love things in colour order to.  The way this book shelf had been arranged really appealed to me.  I could never do this to my bookshelf though, how would I ever find anything again?

image source

I roped the kids in and spent about two hours pulling all of the books out, cleaning the shelves and taking out the ones I knew I wouldn't read again.  

I have held on to my university books for the last fifteen years with the intention that I would study for my masters at some point.  I figured that the books would be outdated now as there are newer editions and that if I do study further, pretty much everything I need I could find online.  I ended up filling three big bags of books to donate and feeling lighter for it.

It's funny, with giving away that many books, you'd think I would suddenly have lots more space.  But when I tried to put them all back in, I gave the kids two more of my shelves for their books and still couldn't fit all of their books in without most of the shelves holding books two deep. 

I tend to group my books my theme: self-help, cookery, parenting, politics, sci-fi next to horror, even books from the same country go next to each other, like the Dewey Decimal System used in Libraries but more intuitive rather than by exact categories (yes I know I am a geek and proud of it).

By the time I finished the kids had disappeared and I had hardly noticed as I obsessed over which book to put next to which, I was covered in dust and I realised it was way too late for everyone's bed times.

I am so happy with my (comparatively) neat and tidy shelves that I want to put a big fence up in front of them with a guard dog.  Failing that I have been watching it like a hawk and making whoever is nearby put back whichever books Baby has just pulled out before running off.

Feels so good to have neat bookshelves.

A book is a dream that you hold in your hand. –Neil Gaiman

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." ― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

"Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home." ― Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers." -- Charles William Eliot

"The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; and, after an era of darkness, new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again, and yet live on, still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead." -- Clarence Shepard Day